1 Peter 4.1-6.
You remember in
And y’know, if we suffer, we can kinda conquer sin:
1 Peter 4.1-6 KWL 1 So, about Christ suffering in the flesh:- Prepare yourselves² as well with the same mindset.
- For one who suffers in the flesh prevents sin;
2 is no longer into human desires,- but the rest of the time they’re in the flesh,
- is into God’s will.
3 The past was plenty of time- to achieve the desires of gentiles—
- living in unchastity, lust, drunkenness,
- partying, drinking, breaking the law for idols.
4 They’re surprised you don’t join them in these things;- in the same flood of indecency as they,
- slandering you.
5 They will give an account- to the One who has to judge the living and dead,
6 This is why the dead are preached to:- Though they are judged by human flesh,
- they may yet live by God’s Spirit.
Now yes, there are certain Christians who take this idea “One who suffers in the flesh prevents sin” in verse 1, and put it into practice in very unreasonable ways. They look for ways to suffer. They figure “Suffering builds character,” so they set out to do things in the most challenging, backwards, wasteful, ridiculous ways. They put up with abuse, instead of resisting it or getting their abusers rightly prosecuted, because they think they’re meant to suffer. They deprive themselves of healthy things,
Christians have been doing this stuff throughout Christian history. And unless they were following the explicit orders of the Holy Spirit, they were wrong to do it. Yes, life is suffering, but Jesus has conquered the world,
In context, Peter is writing about the pushback his audience got from
“You used to be fun.”
Today’s Christians are often in the same boat as Peter’s Christians. Friends notice we used to party with them. We used to get sloppy drunk, to have random recreational sex, to experiment with unfamiliar types of depravity on the grounds “you only live once”, to bend the rules because
In the United States, Christianity is so commonplace we don’t get that much pushback whenever we “get religion.” Most people are aware this might happen, and their favorite lowlifes might someday repent and reform—especially after one arrest too many, or after they finally hit rock bottom and go to rehab. But in the Roman Empire, so many religions permitted, if not endorsed, so much wanton behavior, Christianity (and Judaism) looked like a freakish cult to them, and pushback came hard. Often it even turned into persecution.
So what kind of suffering is Peter really talking about? Obviously, denying
If you indulged in that stuff before, you devoted more than enough time to that. You’re done now. You should want to be done now: God has so much better in mind for you.
Peter grew up
But our mindset should reflect Jesus’s. Who ate with sinners; who came to seek and save the lost. These pagans who try to drag us back into the muck with them: They’re gonna hit rock bottom themselves at some point. Which means they’re gonna need us someday. They’re gonna need our sympathy, and our help to get ’em out of it, and point them to Jesus.
I’m not saying Peter is wrong. All things being equal, destruction is exactly where they’re headed. But if there’s any chance to save them, let’s take it.
“This is why the dead are preached to.”
Verse 6 confuses a lot of Christians—because we don’t preach to the dead. That’s not been our practice. You don’t see preachers go to cemeteries and funeral homes to address the corpses. We preach to the living.
And rather than study the history of the first Christians, and try to understand what Peter meant by this, too many Christians simply try to reason it out for themselves. The
1 Peter 4.6 NIV 6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead…A
—even though there’s no Greek word which could be translated “now.” But this way, Christians can argue Peter meant people who used to be alive—the gospel was preached to ’em then. But now they’re dead. The
Ancient Christians kinda thought the same way. They tried to argue Peter meant people who are dead in sin—those who are spiritually dead. Not literally. This is about preaching to the lost, instead of only to Christians. This explanation actually makes better sense than “preached to those who are now dead.” I still think it’s incorrect though.
Other ancient Christians—and many of today’s Christians—think this refers to “the harrowing of hell,” the Christian myth that during the three days he was dead, Jesus went to the afterlife and preached the gospel there—to the dead. That’s where the dead were preached to. And some of ’em will even claim the dead in hell are still preached to, and offered an extra chance to repent and turn to Jesus, now that they understand how awful their afterlife will be. If you’ve ever read C.S. Lewis’s
My belief is based on the second part of this verse: “Though they are judged by human flesh, they may yet live by God’s Spirit.” Peter was speaking of the adjudicated dead—people who’d been sentenced to death by their sins. “Dead men walking,” as today’s saying goes. Whether he meant people whom the Roman courts had sentenced to death, or people whose sinful lifestyle was rapidly destroying them before our eyes, these people were good as dead. But God still loves ’em. Jesus still died for them. Salvation is still available.
Yeah, it’s mighty similar to the ancient Christians’ idea of being dead in sin. But “dead in sin” can mean an unrepentant sinner who’s got a whole lot of sinful years ahead of ’em. What I’m thinking of—what I believe Peter was thinking of—is someone who’s perishing right now. Who doesn’t have long. Who really is as good as dead. But let’s share Jesus with them all the same.
